Punjab did not follow rules for branding of Ayushman Bharat scheme: Centre

New Delhi: Punjab did not comply with the Centre’s guidelines for the Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centre, popularly known as Ayushman Arogya Mandir, which the Centre said was violating the guidelines under the Capital Investment Scheme to states for the year 2023-24.

Minister of State for Health Anupriya Patel said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha that out of the total allocation of central share of Rs 457.90 crore for the financial year 2023-24 under NHM, Rs 91.49 crore was released to Punjab.

He said that the Punjab and central governments had entered into an agreement on January 16 last year to implement the National Health Mission (NHM) from April 1, 2021 to March 3, 2026, but the Punjab government had failed to comply with Section 10.3 and Section 10.10 of the MoU.

Patel said the state did not follow the name scheme colour nor displayed the six logos.